Three, Smarti can actually sense rugs! When I selected AUTO Cleaning in the app, it said yeedi vac 2 pro has received an instruction, and it started vacuuming. When the robot is moving in a straight line, only the mopping attachment moves around; however, when the robot is moving slower, like when its navigating around something, the entire robot shakes and shivers, as if its mortally afraid of something. This could be helpful for a family with small kids who leave their toys everywhere or, dare I say, a family who has a dog that leaves a present on the floor once in a while. It appears that the V2P avoids narrow passages. While it was charging, I skimmed through the rest of the quick start and noted that the V2P doesnt deal with stairs and will fall down them unless you physically block them. Looking through the app, I can see so many features! Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide, The best indoor air quality monitors for identifying indoor pollutants, Best robot vacuums: We name the most effective cleaners, Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra review: The most sophisticated floor cleaner to date. Theres a 3D visual SLAM camera on top that the robot uses to map your space for more efficient cleaning routes. The trash can part is rather heavy, no doubt due to the motor in it. Both the station and the robot come in a matt-white finish with black trim and accents. It would be even better, yeedi, if you tracked nothing. Once youve assembled all of your parts, just connect it to the Wi-Fi and link it to your account. Ecovacs N8+, a robot with similar features, has an RRP of 599.99, although it is already coming down in price. This robot vacuums, mops, and self-empties its dustbin, providing about 30 days of automated cleaning before you must swap out its dust bag. She headed right there, vacuumed it, and then returned to the docking station. Because the robot can sense rugs and wont go onto them, that means it wont be vacuuming those rugs; so, when I vacuum and mop, it will only vacuum and mop the hardwood floors. I live in a single-story house, and I have been using yeedis k700 for the last two years. In basic mode, Smarti had about a 50-50 chance of successfully avoiding a toy. For example, sometimes she avoided the yellow ball and the finger-on-the-stick, but sometimes she did not. When Smarti drives on the ramp, the motor in the bottom of the trash can turns on, and its really loud. Next, I turned on the yeedi. Despite these, the vast majority of the features work as expected. For now, Ive removed the self-empty docking station and gone back to the simple one that comes with the robot. Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide, Russell Hobbs Chester Grind and Brew 22000 review, GHD Ultimate Styling Gift has a huge saving for Black Friday. I selected the bathroom and told Smarti to vacuum. Seriously? In auto-clean mode, it automatically (and audibly) boosts its suction when it recognizes carpet. This doesn't affect our editorial independence. The vac 2 pro is yeedis newest high-end robotic vacuum cleaner. Reproduction in whole or in part, in any form or medium, without express written permission of The Gadgeteer, is prohibited. I also learned that I dont actually need to use the app to run the vacuum. On the top of the robot, theres a motion-sensing camera, as well as a power button. The app isnt as sophisticated as some of Yeedis competitors, but it provides all the essential controls and is easy to use. There are however, several areas where yeedi can still improve. The V2P has a mopping attachment with a reservoir that I fill with water. At least it works. No matter what I pressed, I got a spinning pinwheel and a cryptic error code of 2003, and the vacuum just kept vacuuming. Apparently, a lot of people dont think its well written. I popped the brush into place, so its ready to sweep. Two, the mopping attachment oscillates as the robots moves around. In real-world use, it managed to clean the entire top floor of my flat (made up of a bathroom, bedroom, hallway, and kitchen) and still had around a third of a charge left. The V2P has one notable, visible difference from the K700: Theres a giant lid on top that can be lifted up to reveal the dust bin, the power button, and the cleaning tool. This may be because it uses Visual SLAM navigation rather than the more accurate LIDAR navigation. The manual has detailed instructions, and the little cleaning tool under the lid is perfect for the job. If it has to pass over a carpeted area to return to the charger after a mopping session, youll end up with some musty, damp floors. At this price point, I wish that yeedi had included a couple of extra pads into the box. The bottom of the docking station has a pair of glossy, slightly sticky pads, which keep it from moving around when the robot is docking or undocking. The lower lid flips up, which reveals the smaller dustbin on the robot, a little brush for cleaning parts of the bot, and another power switch. When the robot returns to the station, it announces that its going to empty the dustbin, and I hear the loud vacuuming sound. The app prompts you through this process, which requires you to scan the QR code on the robot with your phones camera and a generated QR code on your phone with the robots camera. The self-empty docking station looks like a small, cylindrical trash can. The bottom of the attachment has a thin mopping pad that is held on by Velcro (and it will get dirty when I mop!). Additionally, this robot wont vacuum in a couple of places that the previous model did, like the space between the couch and the wall and the area between the couch and the ottoman. The auto-empty station stores a 2.5-liter disposable dust bag that can hold around 30 days of collected dirt and debris. All products and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Walmart. That said, the occasional navigational issues can be a faff, the mopping mode isnt the strongest and the ability to only store one map will be annoying to people who live in a property with multiple stories. She's also the creator of The London Geek, a geek culture and lifestyle blog. Yeedi claims that the Vac Station can last a total of 200 minutes on the lowest setting. This should make you nervous, gentle reader, as youre unlikely to have the same connections that we here at The Gadgeteer have. So far, they have not required one, so feel free to make up an address, if you dont want to give out yours. All products and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. buy it from the European Yeedi website. It was a bit of a Yikes! Does this model have the improvements that I wanted? This means that it can fit underneath sofas and beds to clean areas that you might not otherwise be able to reach with a standard vacuum cleaner. Im a huge fan of this, even though it is rather amusing to watch. I placed the docking station on the floor in the dining room in the exactly same spot as the previous model. The V2P will have to be emptied more often, but when paired with the self-emptying docking station, that shouldnt be a problem. It is controlled by an app on my mobile phone and connects to my Wi-Fi to communicate with the app. It moves in a systematic back-and-forth pattern throughout the house in order to vacuum everywhere. In advanced mode, Smarti was less consistent. The first way I tested a custom area was by selecting the new area button and creating a geofence around a part of my house using a simple rectangle. Theres a lot of hassle taken out of cleaning with the Yeedi Vacuum Station. Suction is rather good, even when not used on the highest mode. While I learned several things, I did not find any instructions on how to use the app, which means that Ill have to learn through trial and error. yeedi needs to step up their support game by making sure they reply to all support requests within 24 hours. Eventually, it settled down into a more efficient up and down pattern. I believe, however, that there are trade-offs. It appears to me that yeedi has really tried to make this feature work, but it still has some room to improve. You can also subscribe without commenting. Stop requiring an account and an email with the app. I like the app, as its overall feel is simple and clean. Once the app, which is free, was downloaded, I started it up. It also maps room layouts to enable customized cleaning, and it supports voice control through Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, making it an attractive option for people who dont want to break the bank for the luxury of fully automated floor cleaning. The mopping function is activated by clipping on the water tank, which can hold up to 240ml. You can also set the vacuum up with regular cleaning schedules, or even have it on continuous cleaning, which means it will start cleaning as soon as it is fully charged. While yeedis technology is certainly improving over time, theres still a number of customer-focused areas in which yeedi needs to improve, such as requiring an email account to use the vacuum, failing to quickly respond to support requests, and having no instructions for using the app. Thats very strange because the manual says that it has two anti-drop sensors. The good news is that it only leaves a fine sheen of water that soon evaporates. In the Cleaning Settings, theres an option for Auto-Empty, which I enabled. I can send the robot back to the dock and adjust the vacuum power and water flow levels. This is the one youll need to use to control the main power of the Vac Station. The V2P is a capable vacuum, despite having only one brush; Ive done a lot of vacuuming the past few weeks, and it never fails to return with dust, dirt, hairs, and little pieces of trash. The robot can recognise large objects such as tables and sofas and will leave them alone. The next time I vacuumed, she was unable to find her way back the docking station for charging; I had to carry it back to the docking station at its new location. The self-empty docking station is currently $200 on Amazon, and extra bags are 3-for-$17. You can even add icons to these, such as a bathtub for the bathroom. The entire attachment is inserted into the back of the robot, and then its ready to go. The suction opens two panels on the bottom of the dustbin, pulls the contents down through two passages in the base station and up into the bag. While you can start a cleaning job simply by pressing the auto clean button on top of the robot, pairing it with its companion app will let you take advantage of features like room mapping and scheduling. This is ok for me, because emptying the dustbin doesnt take long, and I often use this time to clean out the filters or remove hairs from the bottom of the vacuum anyway. I dont need an account to vacuum my floors! The option to auto-empty is still selected in the yeedi app, along with the high frequency dustbin emptying option. I can raise the volume of its voice and ask it to speak in a different language. On the bottom of the Yeedi Vac Station, youll find two retractable wheels and the main wheel at the front. (Yes, yeedi was actively developing and updating their app as I was reviewing it. Setting up this robot vacuum is a breeze. The station doubles as the robots charging dock; the robot can run for up to 200 minutes before returning here to recharge its battery. All content and graphical elements are Copyright 1997 - 2022 Julie Strietelmeier and The Gadgeteer. This robot does not like thick, shaggy rugs. Create a manual for the yeedi app and post it online. I removed everything from the box, including the various pieces of protective plastic and foam. With all of these smart features, you can see why I named the new robot Smarti, which my wife detailed with her Cricut. The Yeedi Vac Station auto-empties after cleaning, but other issues with this robot vac mean its not a totally hands-free experience. This also turns off the lights on the station. Include the proper sized screwdriver to assemble the self-empty docking station. One addition that I would like to see is a way to save the custom areas, so that I dont have to redo the geofence every time. Theres a motorised floor brush for sucking up dirt, and a three-pronged side brush when can flip out any hard-to-get dust or crumbs from tight corners. yeedi really needs to learn to pay attention to details. It takes three to five cleanings for the robot to build a complete and accurate map, but once it does, you can section the room into cleaning zones and set virtual boundaries and no-mop zones. When it starts to move over a rug, it senses that its over a surface that it shouldnt be mopping, and so it backs off, moves over, and then tries again. As you can see from this picture, its trying to pull the trash out through these two black release valves on the bottom, but its not coming out. It feels premium a good thing considering that it is one of the pricier smart household items out there. I have no idea what they changed, as the change log only says, Bug fixes and enhancements. Whatever it is, it made all the difference in the world! The QR code took me to Apples app store, where it found the app. The mopping solution isnt quite perfect. Youll also have to make sure that you start your vacuum from the dock station, as otherwise it can have trouble returning to charge. Its all white, except for the sensor panel on the bottom that communicates with the V2P. Instead of emptying the dustbin every time I vacuum, I can let this do it for me, and yeedi estimates that I will have to replace the vacuum bag every month. If I press it a third time, it will resume vacuuming. The fall detection worked like a charm on my stairs, it didnt show any sign of jumping. It displays the current map and cleaning details with a scrolling overlay that provides one-tap access to cleaning records, suction options, scheduling, and cleaning preferences. As can be seen in a previous picture above, the pad does get dirty, which is why its a good thing that I can toss it into the washing machine. You must slot the station into the docking plate and secure it with three screws provided in the box. This is a critical step, as creating the map unlocks some of the other features, such as editing the cleaning area and creating a geofenced area for cleaning. This model, however, has geofencing and other features that are going to require something more sophisticated, an app on my iPhone. Some toys she still avoided, like the hotdog; some toys she still ran right over, like the golf balls; but sometimes she did either. There are three screws to secure the base plate to the trash can, and yeedi thoughtfully included a small screwdriver to help. My first test in the app was custom area vacuuming, wherein I select some part of my house to be vacuumed. The Yeedi Vac Station retails for $499.99/499.99, which works out around 377. The Yeedi Vac Station mops and comes with a self-emptying station. At this point, it was time to test a couple of the big features in the app. Surprisingly, there are no spare filters for the dust bin or spare pads for the mopping attachment. While the V2P technically works without the app, it has very limited functionality, so its time to start using the app. best robot vacuum cleaners overall. One, V2P can vacuum and mop at the same time. It cant quite get some awkward corners, but the build is easy enough for slipping in and out of tight spaces. (The manual says it could take over 6 hours.) The V2P took off on its first run about the house, and it took over two hours to go everywhere. It was literally under the table amidst all the chair legs and couldnt get out. In general, Im really happy with this new feature, as it bangs into things in my house a lot less often. It did good job sucking up dust and pet hair from carpets and vinyl plank flooring during my testing. The app indicates that there are three water flow levels, low, medium, and high, but I cant tell that theres any difference. When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. We steer you to products you'll love and show you how to get the most out of them. It took a few tries to line it up right, but it was finally able to scan the code. Yeedi, As it cleans, you can track its movements on a map of the floorspace in the app. Its a great option for anyone who wants to enjoy the luxury of automated floor cleaning, as well as anyone for whom popping open a dustbin can trigger allergies or other sensitivities. Vacuum shouldnt come with someone elses hairs already on the brushes. Even so, Im happy to have this feature, as its better than nothing. The robot offers three suction strengths with a maximum power of 3000Pa. The design is still more evolutionary than revolutionary. In order to make use of the Yeedi Vac Station, youll need the Yeedi app, which is available on both iOS and Android. Robot cannot charge with water filter attached. The robots first cleaning of my downstairs level didnt go particularly smoothly. Im a big fan of its ability to mop and vacuum at the same time, to avoid mopping on my rugs, and to vacuum only one room on command. to see that the app currently has an abysmal 2.7 rating on the app store. How can a company possibly include a screwdriver and screws, but they cant be used together? There is still a little manual labour involved as youll eventually need to empty the dust bag. Please remove this silliness or at least make it optional. All rights reserved. The Yeedi app keeps things simple with a clean, minimal interface. yeedi is a brand of Ecovacs Robotics that was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in China; their team is passionate about life and keen on innovations.. She stayed away from the hotdog, the yellow ball, the cow, and the teapot, but she plowed through the plastic golf balls, the stuffed whale, and the finger-on-a-stick. The bot will automatically recognise when it is in mopping mode. The mopping function is adequate for maintaining the floor between more rigorous cleaning with a stick mop. The Yeedi sells, is definitely more effective. Amazon and For these jobs, you fill the water tank and attach one of the supplied microfiber cloths, at which point the robot voice prompt lets you know it has entered mopping mode. The good news is that the only place it vacuumed was indeed the kitchen; the bad news is that it had problems navigating to and from the custom area. This is a pretty good price for a self-emptying robot vacuum. Instead of limply dragging the mopping pad around, the entire attachment moves back and forth 480 times per minute, effectively scrubbing the ground as it moves. I found the vac 2 pro on the list of yeedi products, so next, I needed to connect it to my Wi-Fi, which is how the app controls the robot. It stopped trying, told me that it couldnt reach the docking station, and asked me to carry it back to the docking station. Im glad to have this new robot, but Id also like to see yeedi make improvements in these other areas. This is a trade-off, but I think its a good one, because it allows me to use the mopping attachment without getting my rugs wet. The whole job was finished in about 10 minutes, which is really convenient, given that we are likely to want to vacuum the kitchen after cooking or baking without having to do the whole house. About a third of the time when it was on one of these rugs, it would turn off its vacuum, drive off the rug, and then resume vacuuming. Theres no way to send it back to the cleaning station, if I want it to stop. Yeedi's latest offering is an impressively affordable option for those who want to jump on the self-emptying robot vacuum trend. This both worked and didnt work. Self-emptying robot vacuums are all the rage, and Yeedi has jumped on the trend with its Yeedi Vac station. Copyright 2022 IDG Communications, Inc. In addition, if the water tank is clipped onto the robot even if its empty the tank makes the robot too bottom-heavy, meaning that it cant charge or empty properly as it wont sit on the station at the correct angle. The next step in the quick start guide was to put the robot on the docking station and let it charge completely, which took nearly two hours. Lately Ive noticed that the vac 2 pro isnt completely emptying its dustbin into the self-empty docking station. The Yeedi Vac Station does just that, and also comes with a few other neat tricks. Hannah Cowton is a Senior Staff Writer at Tech Advisor and Macworld, working across entertainment, consumer technology and lifestyle. This site is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. We have three of these Norwex bath rugs in our main bath, and the V2P really struggled to drive over them while vacuuming. The bag in the docking station is not full. Its one feature is that it can automatically empty the dustbin in the robot into a vacuum bag contained in the trashcan. When I reviewed the yeedi k700 robot vacuum, who I nicknamed Mopi, I wrote this, Mopi immediate headed for the dining room rug and didnt pause at all before rolling onto it. If you want to save a $100, yeedi also sells the vac 2; the primary differences are that it doesnt have the oscillating mopping system or carpet detection. yeedi has continued to advance their robotic product line, and so in this review I am testing one of their latest models, the vac 2 proyes, I know the name of the company and their products are in all lowercase; yeedi says thats the right way to write italong with an optional add-on, the self-empty docking station. The docking station was in the corner of the dining room, which means that Smarti had to navigate around the dining room table and chairs on the way to and from the kitchen. I can set a schedule for cleaning and a variety of cleaning settings. At only 3 inches in height, its able to fit under most furniture. If you have some extra money and are willing to splurge, this self-empty feature does work well. It didnt quite get every single nook and cranny, but it certainly made my cleaning job a whole lot easier. You can also check out our chart of the It comes with a simple docking station that automatically recharges the robot when its battery is low. TechHive helps you find your tech sweet spot. The V2P is definitely a huge step up from the older model that I reviewed a couple years ago. The k700 uses a simple remote control, which works well, and I like it. You can choose for the robot to either vacuum all areas on the map, specific rooms in your house, or custom areas, which can be specifically identified on the map. Theres one slight flaw with automatic mopping. After three days, they hadnt responded, and so with Julies help we turned to their marketing team for help. If you want something with advanced capabilities and are willing to spend quite a bit more, iRobots iRobot Roomba s9+ can save up to 10 floor plans and be linked with iRobots Braava Jet m6 robot mop for tandem cleaning. Inside the station, you attach a bag, and then when the robot goes to charge, it empties its smaller 450ml capacity dustbin into the larger 2.5L dust bag provided in the station. The screwdriver, however, is the wrong size; its too little for the screws. Many people like to dock their robot vacuum cleaners behind a sofa, which is just not possible with this appliance. Cmon, yeedi! Right now, many of these retailers are offering big discounts on the model for the Holiday season. I pulled out the dustbin, which includes a handy sticker on top with instructions for cleaning. The app enables a variety of advanced features, like mapping, geofencing, scheduled cleaning, obstacle avoidable, and self-emptying. Unfortunately, its currently not available in UK stores, but you can Theres no good reason for you to track me just because Im using a vacuum cleaner. It finished by going all around the edges. The spot where the second brush would normally be is a floor tracking sensor. Then, yeedi pushed an update to their app (version 1.2.9), and suddenly everything started working! With all the features that this app has, its a huge mistake on yeedis part not to have a manual for it, whether in print or online. But if it gets too tangled to function, the robot will stop and tell you itself. You can control the robot with voice commands using Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant and a compatible smart speaker. In settings, I can update firmware, which I promptly did, find my robot, and configure obstacle avoidance. Still, its disappointing that the self-empty feature doesnt seem to last very long. At this point, I carefully read through the manual. The Yeedi Vac Station delivered impressive results and made the arduous task of keeping my floors clear of pet hair and dust a whole lot easier. Words fail me here. As yeedi is continuing to develop the app, I expect that they will address all of these issues eventually. Theres also a Wi-Fi indicator light, which will tell you if youre having any connectivity issues. The same cant be said for the docking station, which is a bit of a monster, measuring 300 x 420 x 430 mm. Ive spent some time with the Vac Station to see how it performs day-to-day. The contents are the views and opinions of the author(s) and/or associates. Your email address will not be published. This doesn't affect our editorial independence. This is different from the k700, and it makes me wonder if this one will clean as well as it did. To get the best from it, youll need to maintain all the parts of your vacuum regularly. Come on, yeedi, you can do better than this! The developer says it tracks very little data about me, which is good. While it was waking up, I scanned the QR code and downloaded the yeedi app. The Vac Station comes with several dust bags, but you can buy more from That caused a new problem: Moving the docking station completely confused Smarti. Theres only one time zone for all of the United States (seriously!). Copyright 2022 IDG Communications, Inc. To test the obstacle avoidance feature, I set a geofence and then littered the area with a minefield of small toys. It took nearly 10 minutes to get through on the way to the kitchen, and on the way back, it couldnt navigate them and gave up. I tested it with my bathmats and found them both scrunched up in the corners of the room from when the vacuum had obviously backed them into a corner, rather than simply going over them. This dust bin is a lot smaller than that on the K700 model, but I suspect the reason is because this model can vacuum and mop at the same time, whereas the older one could only do one or the other. As with many other robot vacuums, this is really for a light mopping session mopping by hand or by investing in a dedicated mopping bot, which The lesson learned is to put the V2P somewhere that has a direct path to all the parts of your house. Reply to all support requests within 24 hours. The map can identify different rooms, which are then colour coded in the app. Yeedi a pack of three costs $16.99. Read on to find out! Robotic vacuum cleaner with dust bin and cleaning tool, Option for the self-empty docking station. Michael Ansaldo is veteran consumer and small-business technology journalist. Thankfully I have a medium Phillips screwdriver already, and I was able to finish the assembly. All content and graphical elements are Copyright 1997 - 2022 Julie Strietelmeier and The Gadgeteer. He contributes regularly to TechHive and PCWorld. I pressed the glowing Auto Mode button on top of the robot, and off it went with a cheerful Im starting to clean. Yes, this robot talks using a handy set of stock phrases that it delivers in a cheerful androgynous voice; Ive rather become accustomed to this feature and regularly talk back! I then flipped the robot over to install the edge brushes, but on this model, there are no brushes (as in plural) but only brush (as in singular).